Humpback whales vs. hunters

It's not unusual for a passenger on a whale-watch boat to ask for their favorite humpback, according to Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown owner Steve Milliken. "We gave them nicknames like 'Salt,'" Milliken said. "That's how people really bond. They see the whales over and over, year after year."

It's not unusual for a passenger on a whale-watch boat to ask for their favorite humpback, according to Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown owner Steve Milliken. "We gave them nicknames like 'Salt,'" Milliken said. "That's how people really bond. They see the whales over and over, year after year."

That attachment could be at risk, though, with an upcoming proposal to allow limited hunting of humpbacks by indigenous groups in Greenland, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in Plymouth.

The International Whaling Commission's annual meeting in Portugal opens June 22. During that week, representatives for Greenland will likely ask for permission to kill up to 50 humpbacks, 10 in each of the next five years, according to the conservation society.

The humpback whale is an endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973.

There are about 7,700 humpback whales in the North Atlantic region, according to a 2008 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

At least 549 feed in the Gulf of Maine, which includes Cape Cod Bay, according to the 2008 report. Other feeding grounds include the central Atlantic coast of the U.S., the Gulf of St. Lawrence and waters off Newfoundland, Labrador, western Greenland, Iceland and northern Norway.

Humpbacks are known for returning to the same feeding grounds each year, according to the report. But those mammals that are well-known off Cape Cod, or their extended family members, could stray to Greenland waters as well, said Kate O'Connell of the Plymouth conservation society.

"They're mixing and breeding when they're together," said O'Connell of the humpbacks' winter breeding season in the Caribbean. "They're almost cousins. Occasionally you will have a humpback crossing the feeding groups. They definitely intermix."

The main duty of the International Whaling Commission is to review and revise measures, first laid out at a 1946 convention, that govern the conduct of whaling throughout the world.

The humpback has been exempt from commercial whaling since 1966 under the commission's guidelines. But the commission does make exceptions for indigenous groups with long-standing cultural and nutritional ties to whales.

Under those exceptions, Greenland is now allowed to take two bowhead whales, 19 finback whales and 212 minke whales annually until 2012, according to the conservation society. But Greenland, which still maintains government ties with Denmark, wants to add more whale meat to its quota because it has experienced an increase in population.

A similar proposal failed at last year's annual meeting with a vote of 29 in support, 36 against and 2 abstentions, O'Connell said. A three-quarters vote of approval is required. The U.S. voted in support of the proposal last year, O'Connell said.

Scott Landry of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies said yesterday that he was aware of the possibility of Greenland seeking permission to hunt humpback whales, but he declined further comment.

The Cape is no stranger to the rights of indigenous people. The Wampanoag tribe in Mashpee maintains fishing and hunting rights that supersede state licensing rules, according to tribal council treasurer Mark Harding of Mashpee.

Educating enforcement officers, park rangers and fish and wildlife officers is a part of maintaining those rights, Harding said. Tribe members want to pass on traditions, he said.

"It's something that we've never given up," he said. "We have the inherent right to feed our families and take care of our